


Captivity

by ByTheDawn



Series: 300challenge [8]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 20:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1401640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheDawn/pseuds/ByTheDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the #300Challenge, based off of the title prompt. Belle and Regina share a quiet moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captivity

Her head was _throbbing_ , and Belle hated that she actually relished it. After so long living in complete monotony, almost getting killed by a man with a hook for a hand and getting knocked unconscious was actually a highlight. Moaning, she tried to move her head, but found she was trapped. Blinking her eyes open, Belle startled when she managed to blink the Evil Queen into focus—the Evil Queen who was currently applying a wet cloth to her painful head. 

“What are you doing?” She questioned, trying to scramble away from the woman sitting mere inches away on the edge of her bed. A wave of dizziness and nausea overtook her, however, and she was forced to sink down onto her bed again, panting and blinking until she had recovered enough to focus on the Queen’s melodious voice.

“We will be leaving soon—just one loose end to tie up.” The Queen’s voice seemed to come from very far away, and Belle knew that wasn’t just her head playing tricks on her. Whatever the Queen was thinking about, it occupied most of her thoughts, even if she was sitting on Belle’s cot with a wet cloth in her hands, soiled with blood that Belle guessed was hers. Belle wasn’t sure how to reply to the Queen’s words. Leave? Leave to go where? What loose end? She was saved from answering by the Queen herself, whose intense dark eyes suddenly focussed on hers. There was madness there, a madness she recognized from Rumple, and she made sure to remain non-threatening in her posture. Not that she would have been able to put up a fight of any kind, but still. 

“How are you feeling?” The question sounded genuine enough, and Belle realized she didn’t understand the woman who had locked her up at all. Here she was—evil and crazy—but sitting here calmly, asking after her well-being after cleaning her head wound—a wound she most likely could have magicked better. It didn’t make any sense. Belle had experience with people who didn’t make any sense, though, and she took a page from Rumple’s playbook: she went along with it.

“My head hurts.” She admitted. “Thank you for helping me, though. I think I would have been dead if it wasn’t for you.” 

The Queen hummed, twisting the cloth in her hands as she kept her eyes on it, not Belle. It wasn’t much of a confirmation, but Belle knew she was right. Her heart pounded a few beats in recognition of how close she had come to, well, being dead, and found herself grateful for the Queen’s interference.

“Why did you do it…? Why did you stop him…?” Belle asked, unable to stop her curiosity from surfacing. Dark eyes settled on her once more, and the conflicting emotions were easy to read. Belle doubted the Queen herself knew the full extent of her reasoning, but then again, she also doubted the Queen allowed herself this level of vulnerability too often. All their previous interactions had been filled with sassy remarks and angry sneers. Now, the Queen looked younger—conflicted—and a little insecure.

“I still have plans for you. If—when my plan succeeds, I will need you as leverage over your pet monster.” The Queen answered, and Belle knew her statement was at least partially true.

“What’s going to happen?” Belle asked, sitting up slowly to remove some of the vulnerability of her body as it lay stretched out next to the Evil Queen, close enough for her leg to brush dark velvet. They had never been this close for extended periods of time, and like with Rumple, Belle wondered how much of Regina’s behaviour was pain and how much was true evil.

“We are going away.” The brunette answered her. “…to a land of my creation. My happy ending.” 

The vague smile that came to the woman’s features was too conflicted to be convincing. Belle—fighting dizziness as she hoisted herself up into a full sitting position against the wall, legs drawn up and her arms wrapped around them—observed the Queen, finding slumped shoulders and a sadness that she hadn’t realized underlay Regina’s every word and gesture.

“For someone about to get their happy ending, you don’t look very happy.” Belle dared, and anger, indeed, flashed in the dark pools drilling into hers. It lasted only a moment. 

“The man who attacked you—Hook—her is currently in another land, and he will return with the body of my mother any moment now.” The Queen confessed. Belle swallowed, trying not to show an outward reaction to the news. If there was one thing she had learned from living with Rumple, it was that darkness fed off of weakness, and she had learned not to show it, nor surprise. She would not be goaded into a reaction that would rattle the currently docile Queen—who looked far more sympathetic than Belle had ever seen her.

“I’m sorry, that must be hard.” Belle said softly. She realized right away it had been the wrong thing to say. Dark eyes flashed dangerously and the older woman stood swiftly, throwing the cloth back onto Belle’s bed.

“I don’t need your sympathy.” The brunette hissed angrily as she swirled around, and Belle held up her hands. She didn’t want the woman to leave—not when her monotony had finally been broken and she as getting answers for a change.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I simply meant that losing family—that’s hard. I’ve lost every single member of mine as well as—“ Another flash in those eyes, and Belle halted herself. There was obviously a lot of history between the Queen and Rumple, and she would not do her situation any good by bringing it up. “I just meant to say that I understand.”

“You don’t understand a damn thing, you pathetic—” The brunette halted herself, closing her eyes a moment as her jaw set, her hands balled into fists in anger. “I am the one who ordered her death.”

Belle took a steadying breath at the news, swallowing her shock and surprise carefully before relaxing her body. 

“Alright, then the situations are, indeed, different.” She agreed. To her surprise, the Queen smiled lightly. 

“I can see what Rumple sees in you.” The brunette unexpectedly replied, and dark eyes traversed every inch of her body, making Belle’s skin crawl. The blatantly sexual turn of events was enough to throw her off kilter a moment. “Tell me, is he still a good lover?”

“We don’t—we’re not… I don’t know.” Belle sputtered, hating the fact that the Queen had managed to one-up her by the rapidly changing tone of the conversation. The Queen smirked as piercing darkness settled upon Belle’s own, causing her heart to speed up in a mixture of fear and curiosity.

“It seems the little imp has learned patience then. Perhaps it’s different when magic is involved—because he isn’t teaching _you_ that, is he?” The Queen asked, and Belle shook her head.

“No.” She admitted, and although the thought had never come to her before, she felt strangely wounded by the fact that Regina had called her out on her inability to channel magic. The Queen looked at her long moments, searching her eyes and face for something.

“The guards will be here soon. They’ll get you to a carriage and take you into the Kingdom. Don’t worry, you’ll be perfectly safe; I won’t let anything happen to my _investment_.” The woman finally continued, and Belle was developing whiplash at the speed with which the conversations shifted tone and subjects. The Queen turned on her heels and headed out of the small cell, leaving Belle to scamper forward in an attempt to prolong their interaction a few more moments. It had been so long since she had been engaged in an actual conversation; it was so hard to give up now.

“I hope you get it!” She called after the Queen, who slowed, then turned around to look quizzically in her direction, a perfect eyebrow raised high on her forehead.

“What was that?” She questioned. Belle soaked in the words a moment, then smiled.

“I hope you get it, your happy ending.” She answered, and the Queen’s jaw set.

“You don’t mean that.” She said, perfectly sure of the answer. She was wrong, though; Belle did mean it. She really did wish a happy ending for the woman before her—the woman who was obviously in a great amount of pain. She only hoped that the cost was not as great as she feared.

“I do.” She assured, and tried to put as much open honesty into the words as she could. The brunette stared at her for long moments, then sighed.

“Why?” She questioned, and Belle leaned back on the bed.

“Because that’s what we all want in life, and maybe, when you’re happy in your new world, you’ll allow the rest of us our happy endings as well.” Belle said softly, and saw the pain ghost over the Queen’s features a moment before the mask was slammed back on. 

“Don’t count on it, dear,” The Queen said venomously as she reached for the handle of the cell door. “After all, it seems the laws that bind us clearly state that only one side can be happy at a time… and now, it’s my turn. Recover as long as you can, you leave soon. Don’t try to escape, you are not _that_ indispensable.”

The door slammed shut behind the brunette, and Belle sighed. Nervously, she stood from the bed, having to hold on to the wall as a fresh wave of dizziness overtook her. Whatever was going to happen was going to be major enough to upset the entire balance of the world, and she couldn’t pretend not to be frightened. She had just seen the Queen at a level that was positively vulnerable, and pain that ran so deep never bid well for any plans that were made. Sighing, she sat back down again, preserving her energy for the ride ahead. Whatever was about to unfold, her captivity was far from over—although it was about to get a lot more interesting.


End file.
